143 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nof . 



We think tiie small bees from your :raported 

 Queen au accidental (juality, and not a usual 

 one ; if very small, we would send soms to th e 

 ]>erson who sold her, and ask if you arc not en- 

 titled to a better Queen. 



EDITOR Gleanings:— Please iiml enclosed Sl.W 

 for which send us a Queen, or get one for us. We 

 have S swarms, find one Queenless, .tnd as we don't 

 like to lose them would like to get a (fucen for 

 them. You asked in one of your pai)ers who Avould 

 try a swarm to get, an organ with. We got a swarm 

 three years ago to get an organ with and we now 

 have 8 swarms and 8^2.03 in money. Have bought all 

 of our hives and honey boxes. If we winter them 

 well this winter we shall get the organ next year. 

 We take three Bee Journals. 



Ag'ves & MArriB Kelly. 



Smyrna, Ionia Co., Mich., Oct. l'2th, '75. 



In spite of our decision not to sell Queens, 

 we keep having orders like the above, and it is 

 so much trouble to send the money to some 

 one else or to return it, that we decided a few 

 days ago that we would as a remedy turn 

 right around and jUl all the orders. The re- 

 sult is that we shall not have 100 colonies, but 

 we will save buying sugar, and we will have 

 as many baes in a hive as we can well get in ; 

 if they all winter, we can try our hand at 

 Queen rearing next season. Don't send any 

 more orders this fall, — in fact please don't 

 send any more at any time until we tell you 

 we have some ready to send. 



You do not know how much your report en- 

 courages lis, friends Agnes and Mattic ; is 

 Michigan the only state in which ladies can 

 succeed in bee-culture V or is it that we can 

 not get the others to talk out? 



IKAMK STAUTKU. 



I have made an instrnment for starting frames when 

 stuck by the bees. I will enclose a plan of it. Please 

 give yoiir opinion of it. 



HoKACE LiBivy, Box 37J, I^ewiston, Maine. 



B, rests on frames ; A, coroes under frame ; by bear- 

 ing down on the han'dle the frame is started without 

 any jar. Handle of wood, lever of round steel. ITie 

 implement is six inches in length. 



We think very favorably indeed of the im- 

 ])lement, and it will be an excellent exercise 

 for our friends who are apt mechanics, as are 

 all good bee-keepers, we believe, to see how 

 neatly and efficiently they can get up the va- 

 rious little implements that arc so handy in 

 working about among the hives. We remem- 

 ber noticing a very "cute looking" little scra- 

 per used for cleaning the wax and propolis 

 from the inside of hives, and also from the 

 honey boards, at friend Palmer's. We will 

 give one free advertisement of such imple- 

 ments, and where we think them meritorious, 

 will explain them by diagram as above. When 

 practical)le send us the device by mail, that 

 we may give it a practical test. We hardly 

 need say that no frame-starter of any kind is 

 required wliere the metal corners are used, and 

 one is hardly needed where the frames rest (ni 

 a strip of metal — hoop iron, for instance. The 

 objection to hanging common frames on the 

 thin strip of metal, is that it makes a most 

 excellent device for careless persons to cut 

 bees in two. To be sure you can avoid this by 

 working carefully, but with 50 to 100 hives 



we cannot afi'ord to wait and stoop to look 

 under the ends of the frames to see that air 

 the bees are out of the way. Again, these- 

 wood supports will when used year after year, 

 allow the metal to sink into "them, and the- 

 Ij^es will then glue them so fiist, that nothini»: 

 short of a man's strength can start thens with- 

 the fingers alone. In regard to Ivilling l^ees, 

 one of our large bee-keepers, — in fact two difl* 

 erent ones recently spoke to the effect that 

 when we l^egan to count our bees by the 

 hundred colonies we could not afford to stop- 

 to see whether a few bees were going to be- 

 killed or not, and one of them, suiting his- 

 actions to his words, stamped a lot of peace- 

 able little yellow-banded innocents into the 

 dirt, just to "save them from starving'," for ho 

 had given the colony away. lie may be right, 

 it may be better for them to die a quick, al- 

 most painless death, than the slow, ling-ering- 

 one of starvation, Irat can we not get alouu 

 without killing them in either wayV This 

 same friend, — he is a good friend to you all, — 

 when he has more bees than he wants, as he 

 almost always has, shakes the old ones out on 

 the snow, and makes a colony of the young- 

 bees from two hives. Now this may be n, 

 good plan, but from all we can gather on the 

 subject we must honestly think the "old bee" 

 theory a great mistake, for we have had bees 

 repeatedly that we knew were all ohT, rear 

 brood and raise Queens, nearly if not quite as 

 well as young ones. To give both sides of 

 the "comer" (juestion, we should add that two 

 persons have recently, wheri asked, been frank 

 enough to state that they could see little if 

 any difference in favor of such frames. One 

 was a lady, and when we asked for something 

 to start the wood frames, — we used a small 

 screw-driver, such as comes with sewing ma- 

 chines, always carried in the vest pocket, be- 

 fore we adopted metal corners, — she brousrht a 

 butcher knife. She was right ; everything 

 was full of honey, comb was built above the 

 frames, and all over metal corners and every 

 thing else, and in fict a knife with which to 

 cut tilings lotjse was just what was wanted. 

 She had also omitted to use the n?etal rabliets 

 with the corners. The other person was Prof 

 Cook of the Agricultural College. He told 

 the students to observe and see if the cornered' 

 frames were any easier to handle than those 

 without, all resting on the metal supports ; 

 they saw little or no difference. Perhaps with- 

 a large number of hives they might think oth- 

 erwise; at all events we wish every one to 

 speak out phiinly just what they think. Thi^ 

 ladies also complained tlnit they cut their fin- 

 gers— thai they had not strength enough in 

 their hands to hold the combs when grasped 

 by the smooth part of the corners. Uiifortu-^ 

 nately these ladies live in 3Iichigan ; if they 

 only lived in Ohio they would have no such 

 ''troubles." 0>n- combs don't get as heavy as 

 inni wedges if we happen to neglect extracting- 

 !br a few days, and we can take one in each 

 hand and shake ofi' the bees "just us easy as 

 can be." 



DE.VU (iLEANiN<;s:— Tlie frost (;ame the IStli oi 

 Sept., and took all our jiosics, i?o th:it I have been 

 obliged to reiilaco the honey v»'itli sugar. Tlic wax 

 scales made of .sugar are nearl.v cubical while those 

 made of honey are very thin, i)roving that sugar is the 

 best to make comb of. Sawdust d'>u^ not grow ii. thif: 



